A sixth person connected to the discovery of the 5,300-year-old frozen corpse of a man who became known as Oetzi the Iceman has died.
Molecular archeologist Tom Loy, 63, was found dead in his Brisbane home two weeks ago as he finalized a book about Oetzi, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday.
US-born Loy, the director of the University of Queensland's archeological sciences laboratories, lay dead in his home for several days before his body was discovered.
The scientist had suffered from a blood-related condition for about 12 years, members of his family told the paper. The condition was diagnosed shortly after he became involved with the Iceman.
Oetzi was discovered high in the Italian alps near the Austrian border in 1991, and reports and pictures of the perfectly preserved Stone Age warrior, sparked worldwide interest.
Other deaths associated with the Iceman include Helmut Simon, 67, the German tourist who found him, who fell to his death a year ago while hiking in the same area. Archaeologist Konrad Spindler, 55, who first inspected the corpse, died in April of complications from multiple sclerosis. The head of the forensic team examining Oetzi, Rainer Henn, 64, died in a car crash on his way to give a lecture about the Iceman. The mountaineer who led Henn to the body, Kurt Fritz, 52, died in an avalanche. The journalist who filmed the removal of the body from its icy grave, Rainer Hoelzl, 47, died of a brain tumour.
The curse theory was built around the supposition that the Iceman was angry at having been disturbed after 53 centuries.
Loy "didn't believe in the curse," a colleague told the Australian. "It was just superstition. People die."
Loy's brother Gareth, who flew into Australia to attend a memorial service, told the paper that the autopsy results were inconclusive.
"We have been told that he died of natural causes or an accident, or that it could have been a combination of both," he said.
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